A waveguide amplifier based on a counterdirectional coupler

The propagation of continuous-wave radiation in tunnel-coupled waveguides, one of which is characterized by a negative refraction and linear losses while the other is made of an ordinary dielectric and represents a linear amplifier, is analyzed theoretically. We found that, in the case of linear waveguides, the losses can be compensated at certain values of the pump-wave amplitude depending on values of the gain and loss coefficients in the corresponding waveguides, resulting in the amplification of radiation at the output of the waveguide with the negative refraction. The Kerr nonlinearity of the amplifying waveguide prevents the compensation of losses due to the violation of the phase-matching condition between the coupled waves in a counterdirectional coupler.